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Gisele Bündchen.Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times
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For
about a week in 1964, a bossa nova tune was bigger than songs by the Beatles.
The
melancholy pop gem, “The Girl From Ipanema,” which was penned by a Brazilian
songwriting team, enchanted listeners around the globe after an English-language
version was recorded in 1963.
More
than 50 years later, with a little bit of help from the Rio Olympics, the song
is once again in demand.
Spotify
reported this week that “The Girl From Ipanema” was streamed more than 40,000
times the day after it accompanied the Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen during
the opening ceremony of the Olympics on Friday.
That
streaming number represented a 1,200 percent increase, Spotify said.
Much of
the spike came from users who searched for the song themselves, a spokeswoman
for Spotify said. Several covers of the tune were included in the count. But a
version of the song credited to the poet Vinicius de Moraes, one of its two
Brazilian creators, appeared on a Rio playlist that was promoted by Spotify,
where some new listeners may have found it, the spokeswoman said.
Mr. de
Moraes and his frequent collaborator, the songwriter and composer Antônio
Carlos Jobim, wrote the song, “Garota de Ipanema,” in 1962, while working on a
musical about an extraterrestrial who visits Brazil. (Mr. Jobim’s grandson,
Daniel Jobim, played the tune during Ms. Bündchen’s walk.)
The duo
tried to imagine what might convince an alien visitor that Earth was worthwhile.
They settled on a beautiful woman.
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Heloísa Pinheiro in 2012
Credit Andre
Penner/Associated Press
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In
1965, Mr de Moraes publicly identified the muse of the
song: Heloisa Pinheiro, or Helô, who was from Ipanema, in the southern part of
Rio.
The
song was popular in Brazil. But it became an international hit after Stan Getz,
an American saxophonist, and João Gilberto, the Brazilian singer and guitarist
whose name became synonymous with bossa nova, created the English-language
version during a recording session with Mr. Jobim.
The
English-language version surged in popularity in 1964, spending 12 weeks on the
Billboard Hot 100. It leapt from No. 87 early in the summer all the way to No.
5 by mid-July, ranking among songs by the Beatles, the Beach Boys and the
Rolling Stones.
The
following year, at the seventh annual Grammy Awards, “The Girl From Ipanema”
won record of the year.
“The Girl From Ipanema” went on to be covered
by entertainment luminaries like Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Diana
Krall.
Let's fill in the blanks below while listening to Diane Krall
Tall and tan and young and handsome
The boy from Ipanema ____________ walking
And when he___________
Each girl he ___________ ___________ Ah!
The boy from Ipanema ____________ walking
And when he___________
Each girl he ___________ ___________ Ah!
When he ___________
___________ like a samba
That ___________so cool and ___________so gentle
That when he ___________
Each girl he___________ ___________ Ah!
That ___________so cool and ___________so gentle
That when he ___________
Each girl he___________ ___________ Ah!
Ooh but I ___________ him so sadly
How can I ___________ him I___________ him
Yes I would ___________ my heart gladly
But each day when he ___________ to the sea
He ___________straight ahead not at me
How can I ___________ him I___________ him
Yes I would ___________ my heart gladly
But each day when he ___________ to the sea
He ___________straight ahead not at me
Tall and tan and young and handsome
The boy from Ipanema ___________ walking
And when he ___________
The boy from Ipanema ___________ walking
And when he ___________
I ___________, but he ___________
No, he ___________
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